Heavy Metal and Reflective
by hankpym
Summary: With crime on the rise and older heroes beginning to retire, it's time for a younger generation to step up to the plate. But that proves harder than it sounds when a nearly unstoppable villain rises, hoping to change the world and all that inhabit it. Will the Dragon and her growing team of super-powered friends be enough to stop this evil? Superhero AU
1. Team!

a/n_: _Given how I'm so into comic books, it's a surprise I didn't do this sooner. This is probably going to be more than one story, with each story focusing on a different character, because I just don't know who the main character should be!

Note: A kekkei genkai is the equivalent to a 'mutation' in the X-Men lore-someone who is born with a superpower naturally, as opposed to getting it from experiments, accidents, or (spider) bites.

* * *

_Do you think you can subdue the creature mentally, Hyacinth?_

_Dragon, you know me, I already tried that. It appears to be a mindless being but, it won't let me in. It looks like it's all you until I can get Titania, Sandstorm or Maenad out there._

_Okay._

When she first started this thing, Dragon never really saw herself with anything like a team. She thought it would be pointless, and she didn't want too many people knowing her identity. It proved to be useful, though, especially with a team like hers:

There was Hyacinth, who fought crime with her kekkei genkai- telepathy and telekinesis. She could read minds, control minds, put her mind in other people's bodies, inflict dreams and nightmares, and other things that the Dragon prayed she would never be on the receiving end of. Out of the costume she was known as Ino Yamanaka, the two revealed their identities to each other as a form of trust. Ino was in her mind a lot, something she agreed to, so trust was a necessity.

Titania came next, with her super-strength and skin that was as tough as metal. She could lift thousands of times her own weight, and she packed a killer punch. On the battlefield, Titania and the Dragon were polar opposites; Titania's attacks were loud and destructive, while the Dragon's were silent and clean. All Dragon knew about Titania's secret identity was that she was best friends with Ino.

Maenad's abilities were in part thanks to her kekkei genkai, and in part thanks to something else entirely. Her skills with her kekkei genkai- which was a hereditary trait similar to a mutation, sometimes the same ability passed down generations and sometimes not - were not as good as her sister's or father's but she made up for that with her 'second' personality, which only came around when she was overwhelmed with emotion. No one on the team knew much of anything about Maenad's identity, and the Dragon didn't mind keeping it that way.

Sandstorm came from a family that had the ability to control certain things in nature- for her youngest brother it was sand and Earth, for her it was the wind, and sometimes even the weather. Her powers were very flashy and created a lot of attention, but were useful for distractions. Little was known about Sandstorm's identity except that she was related to Earthquake, the partner of Leaf Hurricane.

There was also Shadow, who mostly provided Dragon and her team with Intel, but sometimes joined the fight himself. His ability to manipulate people's shadows was quite useful, and would be a gift if only he stepped into the field more often. She also knew nothing about him except that he was good friends with Hyacinth.

Finally there was her- an orphan, and a former member of the deadly group, the Shadow of Assassins. Her skills were mostly self-taught, which included her expert marksmanship, mastery in swordfighting, and high skill in various types of martial arts. There was also her bashosen, which took a lot of energy out of her and was a great destructive weapon. The only other thing close to a kekkei genkai that she had was an accelerated healing factor, that was quite useful in her current situation.

The monster was huge, as tall as a skyscraper, with gigantic tentacles shooting from its body, lashing around in all directions. She managed to cut off three, but three more grew in its place. According to Shadow, this thing was not a creature of the Earth. Dragon couldn't bother to be surprised- fighting otherworldly creatures came with the territory.

It would have been nice, though, to get a little assistance. Titania and Maenad would be the most useful in a situation like this, maybe even Leaf Hurricane.

There was no sense in pitying herself for being alone. She could go on for hours, literally, and they always sent her out first because she could take a stab better than the rest of them.

Putting a hand on her katana, the Dragon weighed her options. She could wait for an ally, or use the bashosen and finish it quickly. That would be too destructive, though, and could alert enemies.

The Dragon didn't have much time to think further about it, as the creature lashed out another round of attacks, smacking her in the side and sending her flying into a wall.

Growling, the Dragon decided enough was enough. She readied herself, about to unleash her bashosen, but paused when a person appeared suddenly before her.

They wore all white, and stood in a stance that the Dragon never saw before. They faced the monster directly, not even glancing back at her.

"Kaiten!"

All that the Dragon could see is blue, and she held her head as the sight made her dizzy. _What the Hell is this? _The person in front of her spun around with speed she has never seen before- he was going even faster than Leaf Hurricane! The blue barrier around them seemed to grow as the person picked up speed.

Suddenly, the person came to a stop, and the blue was gone as soon as it had appeared. _Who is this? And what was that attack? Ino are you- ?_

_Yeah, I'm in here. I'm getting Shadow to look up some intel about this person, but we have next to nothing to work with. Ask him something!_

The Dragon stared at the person's back as she stood, but inspected the damage around them. He had defeated the monster, all was left was its lifeless body.

"How did you-?" She glanced at him as he acknowledged her presence for the first time. He had on an eye mask, but those pale orbs looked familiar...

He turned fully to face her, staring her down. "With my kekkei genkai, of course."

His voice was deep, and there was a tone of pride in it. He was proud of his powers- she wanted to know what they were.

"Weeeell," she said, dragging out the word as she stared him down, "thanks for the help, but I gotta run. I'm the Dragon and I'm sure we will meet again."

She smiled at him, though there was no way for him to see that from underneath the mask that covered her face, and turned away, shooting a grappling line from the device on her wrist, swinging from the nearest building.

The last thing she heard was his call of, "Destiny!"

When she got back to her headquarters, Titania, Maenad, and Hyacinth all cornered her, checking for injuries. While the others took care of her, despite her constant claims that they really didn't need to, Shadow spoke to her about the person she encountered.

"Destiny? Is that what he calls himself?" Shadow asked curiously. The Dragon nodded slowly, eyeing him. "And his abilities, can you gauge what they are?"

The Dragon glanced at Maenad then. "He did something called 'Kaiten'. He can probably do more than that, too."

A strange look crossed Maenad's face, but it was gone as quickly as it came and she refocused her attention to the Dragon's wounds.

"You really got a good beating but you're already healing!" Titania said as she inspected the large bruise on the Dragon's side. "You're really amazing, Dragon-chan."

Dragon stared down at her, catching her gaze. Sighing, she closed her eyes and cracked a smile. "Tenten."

Maenad and Titania exchanged glances, and Shadow looked over from his seat.

"What?"

The Dragon sighed again, opening her eyes. She pulled her face mask down. "My name is Tenten."

For a while, none of them said a thing. They all looked at her, at each other. Then, Hyacinth spoke up. Taking off her domino mask, she smiled. "I'm Ino Yamanaka, at your service."

Titania pulled off her metal face mask, looking shyly at everyone. "Sakura Haruno."

"Nara. Shikamaru Nara," Shadow said as he pulled off his own mask.

Maenad was the last, peeling off her eye mask. "H-hinata Hyuuga."

"So I guess this means we're friends now?" Sakura asked, glancing around at her teammates. Tenten laughed, and it was so nice to finally be able to see her beaming expression when she did so.

"We already were friends, Sakura."

Sakura rolled her eyes, shoving the other hero playfully. "Friends that didn't know what each other looked like."

"W-will we...hang out when we a-aren't ...fighting crime?" Hinata asked, hoping the answer was a yes from all of them. Ino broke out into a grin, nodding furiously.

"We've saved each other's asses too many times for us not to hang," Shikamaru reasoned.

Tenten nodded, thinking of something rather suddenly as she stared at Shikamaru. "So...who's gonna tell Sandstorm?"

"I will," Shikamaru replied, trying hard to make that sound like a burden. Ino and Tenten exchanged looks and busted out into laughter.

* * *

**Reviews are always a gift!** Also- _**you could be rewarded for leaving one**_! While I try to get back into the gear of writing Naruto fics, I will be taking some one-shot requests! They will be AU or canon, it's the requester's choice. If you give me a prompt, there's a high chance I'll do the request (though I do have a right to turn down any, and the request may be of higher quality if it stars a character/pairing that I like, rather than something I don't enjoy). So, read this and if you like my writing, then tell me you want a request either in a review or in a PM and we can discuss it further! (If you leave your review anonymously then, just detail what prompt you want in the review)


	2. Mystery!

a/n: How long has it been since the last update? Not too long I hope. Sorry this one took so long...I got stuck. I wanted to provide some background of Tenten's home life while advancing the story as well...

It is revealed in this chapter that Tenten has three parental guardians; all in a happy relationship and all the same gender (they are gay/bi); this may surprise and/or disgust you. This will be the first and only time I give warning- I am open to all things and ships and if you are disturbed by this, no sense in continues reading my work.

* * *

Tenzou stared hard at the television screen as it relied to him an event that happened earlier in the night. The Dragon faced off with some type of alien creature.

"She's as reckless as ever, ne?"

Tenzou looked down at the man in his lap and rolled his eyes. He leaned forward, flicking Kakashi'd forehead. "Don't sound so proud of yourself about it."

"You're a bully," Kakashi replied, covering his eyes with his arm. Tenzou leaned back again, resting his head on the back of the couch. He closed his eyes, feeling suddenly lethargic. He often felt relaxed around Kakashi, something that was very rare for Tenzou. He hoped that Tenten was okay, but the feeling of Kakashi so close to him made most of his worry fade away.

He would never tell Kakashi that, though. He preferred to keep it to himself, and sometimes to-

"YOSH! What are you two sitting around for!?"

The subject of his thoughts bursted into the living room, stopping directly in front of the television. Tenzou snapped his eyes open and looked up at the man in front of him, clad in his all green spandex costume, his mask in hand, and a grin on his face.

Kakashi lowered the book in his hands and sat up. "Because it's comfortable?"

"There's no time for comfort when there's crime to be fought! A life to be lived! People to be saved!" Gai practically shouted. Tenzou sighed and stood up, walking over to his boyfriend to check for any wounds. Knowing Gai, he probably had some that he wasn't even aware of.

"We're getting a little too old for this, don't you think?" Tenzou asked, knowing it was futile before he even began, but found himself unable to resist. "I'm getting slower, you know, one of these days I might slip up. Besides, with all these young people coming about…"

Gai looked absolutely horrified at the words, and stared at Tenzou with wide eyes. "You couldn't be thinking of retiring already, Tenzou, you just turned twenty-six! Kakashi, talk some sense into him."

"Tenzou might be right, Gai," Kakashi said, shrugging. "Don't get upset about it….think of it this way. We should focus on training the younger generation, now."

Gai seemed to brighten up at this almost immediately, pumping his fist in the air. "That reminds me- Lee has improved so much since he came under my wing! How does young Tenten fair on the battlefield?"

Tenzou smiled softly, sitting down again. "She's gotten better. She was on the news earlier...but now that I think about it, why isn't she home already?"

"Don't go thinking that way, Tenzou," Kakashi chided, slinging an arm around his boyfriend's shoulders. He smiled a bit az Tenzou leaned into his touch, resting his head on Kakashi's shoulder. "She's probably with her teammates. She'll be here."

"Now, now, dear rival, you know he can't help it!" Gai spoke up in Tenzou's defence, grinning all the while. "It's in his nature to be so worrisome! I'm surprised he never had a heart attack when we use to be on the battlefield together!"

Tenzou closed his eyes and sighed, his breath tickling Kakashi's shoulders. "The two of you...always causing me stress. And now, you've got Tenten following in your footsteps."

"Ah, yes, Tenten- she's the one who excels at sword fighting, martial arts, and can manipulate magnetism a bit as well? I can see why you would worry," Kakashi said sarcastically, glancing down at Tenzou. "You should be more worried about Gai."

"Trust me, I have enough worry for the lot of you," Tenzou mumbled.

Kakashi gave a light chuckle in response. He patted the younger man's hair. After a bit more excited ranting, Gai finally settled in with them and the three watched the muted television for the rest of the night.

Upon entering her home, Tenten narrowed her eyes at how suspiciously quiet it was. She wasn't aware of the time, but no matter how late it was, at least one of her housemates would be awake.

For one, there was her good friend, Lee, and Gai, her guardians' boyfriend. Those two were so hyperactive and a lot of the time, Tenten doubted they even slept.

Then there was the younger of her guardians, Tenzou, who often stayed up until he was certain everyone was safe. Sai also stayed up all night, painting.

Finally, there was Kakashi. An insomniac.

Creeping further into her home, she glanced around, hand on the hilt of her katana- waiting. She entered the living room only to see her three guardians huddled together, asleep on the large couch. Lee was on the smaller sofa-chair, legs hanging over the armrest. Sai was on the floor, curled up into a ball.

Settling down, she smiled and dropped her gear. As soon as she made a sound, Tenzou jumped awake, grinning. "Tenten!"

The volume of his voice awoke Kakashi, who only raised a hand to wave at his child.

After the Shadow of Assassins had disbanded, Kakashi and Tenzou remained close, until they entered a peaceful relationship. Tenzou insisted that Sai and Tenten live with them- the two were both orphans, raised by the Shadow and it's members- taught from infancy how to fight and kill. They had no where else to go, and were both quite familiar with each other and Tenzou and Kakashi, so they agreed. Since then, and along with Gai and Lee who moved in with them some time last year, Kakashi and Tenzou took care of them, practically adopting them.

As she walked to stand into the center of the family room, she was embraced by Tenzou. "I'm so glad you're safe...you were gone for quite some time."

"Hai, hai, sorry...my team and I bonded," she answered, somewhat vague. "I'm gonna go get cleaned up, okay?"

Tenzou patted her head, smiling softly, and watched as she walked into the direction of the bathroom. He knew he could overreact with his worrying at times, and he was overprotective of those he held dear, but with Tenten- he had every right to be.

Her biological father was out there, always looking for her, and he was dangerous. Tenzou knew he was still alive though most others didn't. He was good at hiding.

Sighing, he tried not to think about it as he sat back down on the couch, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. Instead, he let sleep overtake him...

The next morning, Tenzou awoke to see Tenten, standing in front of the television with a frown on her face and her arms crossed. Getting up and stretching, he turned to his daughter.

"What's the matter, Tenten?" He asked, frowning. She pointed at the television. A news story detailing the mysterious deaths of three- now retired- super villains was playing before them. All three of these super villains were members of the once disbanded Shadow of Assassins.

Sighing, Tenten turned to the person that she considered a father- though he was young enough to be a brother. She did not need to waste words to communicate with him- out of all her guardians, he understood her the best. With just a nod, he was giving her the affirmative that he would allow her to go through with her plans.

She would investigate the deaths of these supervillains.

While they were evil, they were still people, and their deaths could not go without being looked into.

She turned to walk back towards her room, to get into her gear. It was still early, a perfect time for patrolling. She got dressed quickly, sent a text to Ino, and slipped out of her bedroom window-a note that told her other guardians of her whereabouts, in case Tenzou forgot to.

She remembered the neighborhoods that the news channel named, and finding the exact houses wouldn't be too hard when they were surrounded with police tape and the like. The first location she went to was the home of the Snake Charmer- Tenten remembered him as Kabuto. By the looks of the way his bedroom was so wrecked, and his living room stained with blood- it was easy to see that he put up a good fight.

_Not good enough..._

The sound of another's voice in her mind let Tenten know that Ino was awake now. She nodded- more out of habit than anything else, since the blonde could read her thoughts- and made quick work of the crime scene. There were no clues, and she would not touch anything or tamper with evidence.

Sighing, she made her way back out just as quickly as she had come. She made her way to the second house- to the home of an assassin she did not know. Apparently, she left the League before Tenten was even born, let alone in the League herself.

Her death was one that took her by surprise. It appeared that she was asleep or relaxing, as she wore only a robe. Thrown from the sixteenth floor of a skyscraper, out of her floor-to-wall apartment window. Blood was splattered all across the sidewalk in the deadly scene.

The Dragon made her way to the apartment a traditional way- using the stairs and elevator. With her recent battles against otherworldly creatures as well as enemies born on Earth, she was becoming quite popular. All she had to do was explain to authorities why a super was needed in such a case, and she was let through.

She entered the elevator alone. It was a slow one, built ages ago. The time seemed to pass excruciatingly slowly as she inched up flight by flight. At the thirteenth floor, it came to a sudden stop.

The Dragon glanced around with narrowed eyes, looking for the button to contract assistance, but the lights went out.

_What the Hell? Ino- I need Shadow._

_On it!_

She was knocked aside- something oddly shaped hit into her stomach, and she slammed against the wall of the elevator. Eyes widening, she cursed herself for being caught by surprise. Again, she was hit in the same place before getting a chance to move, or even breathe.

She stumbled away in time to avoid the third hit, kicking out a foot aimlessly, in hopes of striking her attacker.

The Dragon sent one kick after another, adding punches and elbow jabs here and there, until finally, she made contact with a fist. Grabbing at whoever it was just as her punch connected with their chest, she took hold of their collar.

Still unable to see in the darkness, she leaned forward.

"Who-"

The question was lost in her teeth as her assaulter head-butted her in the chin, knocking her back. Knowing the fight was lost, she turned in the direction of the door.

She concentrated, trying to focus her energy into the metal of the door-which proved to be an easy feat, with all of the door being metal. With an easy thought, it bended to her will, causing itself to open.

She ran out, but her attacker followed. Soon, they were in front of her, and behind her. She had no where to run.

_Two...? A clone?!_

She glared, not wishing to run away. She thought it would be a simple patrol and wasn't preparing herself for a fight, but it would have to be done...

Getting into position, she put a hand on her hilt, ready to strike. Just as she was about to rush forward, something came between her and her attacker.

The Dragon stared with wide eyes at the interruption- the same one as before. Destiny.

"How many times..." he trailed off as he got into a fighting stance of his own, "...will I have to save you?"

* * *

This chapter is a bit longer than the last...I think that most of them should be around this length. Also, need to work on the pacing for this...hm...

Anyway:

**Reviews are always a gift!** Also- _**you could be rewarded for leaving one**_! While I try to get back into the gear of writing Naruto fics, I will be taking some one-shot requests! They will be AU or canon, it's the requester's choice. If you give me a prompt, there's a high chance I'll do the request (though I do have a right to turn down any, and the request may be of higher quality if it stars a character/pairing that I like, rather than something I don't enjoy). So, read this and if you like my writing, then tell me you want a request either in a review or in a PM and we can discuss it further! (If you leave your review anonymously then, just detail what prompt you want in the review)


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